1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to an information service device for communicating information data with a host device. The invention also relates to the host device for communicating information data with the information service device and, further, to an information communication system for controlling communication between the host device and the information service device.
2. Description of Related Art
One well-known conventional type of information service device that is installed in a vehicle receives information data from a host device and informs a user of the information by means of its display unit or the like.
When a user selects an item, for example, "weather information", from among the items displayed in a menu screen of the display unit of such conventional vehicular information service device, the display unit then displays a menu of items of a subsequent hierarchical level, e.g., names of prefectures or states arranged in a geographical order starting from the northernmost state or in an alphabetical order.
To obtain desired information, the user needs to find and select from the displayed information items the most vital information items, that is, optimal information items related to his or her present location.
In this way, one problem with the conventional information service device is that it requires the user to perform troublesome selection processes in order to obtain his or her desired information.